Gelise has just completed her Drawing and Painting Diploma Course with a Distinction. Tutor Paul Weaver said … “Gelise has been a pleasure to teach, always very thorough and creative, producing some great work during the course. The male nude was drawn with a tooth pick, coffee, saffron and soy sauce!” The following is from Gelise herself, her story is inspiring. We hope you enjoy reading it.
I have been working in HIV for over 20 years and I have been fortunate to travel and meet the most amazing people living with HIV among others. In 2011 I met Nancy, at that time she was 14 and not in school, I found out what school cost and she was my first daughter as I like to say. I have three sons so I can have many daughters. I paid for Nancy to go back to school and she completed her education. My view is that life with HIV is never going to be easy and at least in finishing school they will be better equipped to make life choices that affect health.
During my travels for work, I have seen Africa through its health services. I took photos and when I got home I used them for inspiration for my paintings. In 2012, I did my first exhibition and with painting I highlighted an aspect of what people with living with HIV can experience. During the exhibition people asked to buy the paintings and that is how ‘Painting for an Education’ was born. Each year I exhibit to raise funds and today I have around 20 young girls in school in Nairobi and Kisumu. Over the years I have watch many grow up and turn into exceptional young adults.
Here is Yvonne one of the girls I have been funding for 5 years now https://youtu.be/ioCtaMb-97w . We have a lot to learn from her about acceptance and being proud of who we are.
During the painting and drawing course there are moments when I would paint the girls. This is Nancy in her home in Kibera the largest slum in Africa, this was submitted as part of Assignment 2. She lives in a mud hut with a corrugated roof, no running water. It is however spotless inside and they are the most welcoming family. Nancy is now 26 and works in a fashion shop, she also is a mentor and role model for other girls living with HIV. As I mentioned these are people I have met though my work, Nancy made a video with us last year https://youtu.be/_DuXok6aENk
This World Aids Day, I signed up to be part of an advent calendar event in Geneva, here we got a changing cubicle that we had to decorate down at Bains de Paquis, so a cubicle used by swimmers in the lake. I used this for my World Aids Day message and drew 20 portraits of women using the same tones. The theme was masquerade. How I interpreted it was that we all live behind some kind of mask. We all hold secrets and are are not always we what seem. As artists we stir emotions, when I first exhibited I was so nervous about what other people would think. I realised quite quickly that art speaks to people in another ways, you never really know what will stir a persons emotions, and I realised that when they looked at my art they connected with the image (or not) but it had nothing to do with me the artist how they felt.In a way as artist we can pull down some of those masks.
So this is my story, I believe if we each do a little it adds up to a lot, and what I managed to do each year is very small, but it has a big impact for those girls. You can see a lot of what I have been doing for the girls on my website.https://www.gelise.org/ And also in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOhrdX9VaKM where you can have a glimpse of the girls in Kenya, it was magic to paint together.
Gelise
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